Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Caretakers of Tomorrow

I come to all of those within Life’s struggle with the nth amount of due respect & love for life. Being the Great-grand-daughter of a German immigrant I am disheartened by the rhetoric of both US political parties. My grandfather was age 7, a resident of Alsace Loraine, Germany, an only child who was sent with an Uncle to the US to escape the War between Germany & France. He and his Uncle stowed away aboard a ship bound for America where money grew on trees & the streams were of milk & honey. After landing in NYC & registering at Ellis Island they worked their way to the Mid-west to begin a new life.

The war caused the country’s boundaries to be changed & Alsace Loraine became part of France, but today the mainstay of the language is still German. I often wonder about his life & journey…the Germans were taking young boys as young as he..what it was like for his parents to send their only child away so that he could escape to safety & a better life. I often think of him now when I see Syrian refugees risking life & limb to escape the devastation & war within their homeland. Many of them with children crossing an ocean & walking hundreds of miles to safety & dreams of a better life. I see the mindset of Nationals in the countries they enter…I know that many immigrants who came to this Nation were met in a like manner & they too were scorned, feared & discriminated against.

Unfortunately in any conflict children & the elderly pay the greatest price for War for they are the two most vulnerable classes in our civilization. A generation of children reside in many regions around the World where they have never known peace or living a day without fear…where they have been robbed of the greatest leg of their journey in life…childhood. How confused, abandoned & rejected they must feel on their journey in distant lands when they are met with derision & scorn..if you have an ounce of human decency within your person, it tears you into two to see their suffering & fear after walking hundreds of miles to be met by armed soldiers & mobs who do not want their presence.

For politicians anywhere to liken these images to the terrorists that have shaken the World at large, to brand them with such a broad sweeping branding iron is an insult not just to Americans, but the World also. A Republican Presidential hopeful just said that he would not allow any Syrians within the borders of the US. They would have to meet new qualifications for asylum. They would have to be Christians…kind of makes you shudder…what about the numerous religions within our own borders that are not considered Christians? The same said politician also saw a mirage of thousands of Arabs on roof tops in New Jersey celebrating the collapse of the Twin Towers. I do not have any recollection of such images unless they came out of the Middle East. However, I do recall Arabs from the Middle East here in the US who are for the majority here due to political asylum who reside in Deer Borne, MI one of the World’s largest Arab populations outside of the Middle East celebrating when Baghdad fell & the statue of Saddam Hussein was destroyed.

Man possesses the uncanny ability to bob & weave, adapt & adopt…many can do so without losing their integrity & humanity. However just as the Animal Kingdom has learned to adapt to their ever changing environments, so does mankind if he is exposed to that environment long enough. When you have a young generation that knows not of peace or a day without fear, they become entrenched & embedded in an environment that was knocked off its original civilized chassis to embrace the handed down laws of survival that now control said environment. Akin to the process we have seen here in our own homeland for too many decades to count, where inner cities have gangs & the life style & laws of survival are handed down thru the generations to leave behind bitter, angry individuals with harbored emotions of abandonment.

It has been proven that you can take individuals from a dysfunctional & hostile environment, show them a better way to life, new ideologies, concepts & laws of survival & they will prosper in a like productive & positive manner. In regards to ISIS or ISIL, sometimes individuals are so close to a situation or entrenched within its problems that answers are difficult to come by. It’s like the individual who can’t see the forest because the trees are in the way. If only we could find a way to flip the script on their ‘mental framework’ it would create havoc for their chassis in the new environments they have created. The Washington Redskins did just that to RG3, they flipped the script on his mental framework & comfort zone. As they have found out it’s a costly process for them all the way around.

“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself”…my mental framework assures me that when an individual(s) has to wield fear to attain his agenda or goal, his character is weak. When leaders send others on bombing suicide missions they also lack strength & self-worth in character. But that is why they invoke fear within their homelands & abroad…holding family hostages, using children as human shields…think of that now…they use one of the most vulnerable classes in our civilization to paint a portrait of power & strength.

By becoming fearful of immigrants, especially families with children & denying them the opportunity of a better life or existence…we forge the chains of ISIS by creating another generation who harbors anger, bitterness & emotions of abandonment. Yes, there maybe a few who slip through the immigration surge & process, but many others will prosper, become positive & productive and more importantly hand it down through their generations. There has been a great deal of emphasis & movement lately in this Nation in regards to ‘police shootings’, individuals walking or running away from the officer being gunned down, when the individual did not seem aggressive in his actions by the public. So what about the refugees who turn their back on Syria, a dictatorship & war torn Country…should their dreams of peace, a day without fear & a better life also be shot down? I wish I could ask JFK or MLK for their perspective on these issues…..

I leave you as I came with the nth amount of due respect & love for life….

Lady Gray/RosemarieP.

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